Next Friday is the wedding party for one of the girls at the office, and I found out yesterday, that me and Catherine and Mizuko are going to have to provide some entertainment. At first, it was just going to be us singing a karaoke song (I think "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles was the winner), but then they were like, "Oh, Kara, why don't you play a song (or two) on the piano?!" So now, in addition to singing, I have to play "You Raise Me Up" and a Chopin nocturne. Great. Thanks for the heads up!
I wonder what I'm supposed to wear to this thing. Hmm.
I heard a loud "Konnichi wa! Gomen kudasai" outside (not at my door, though), so that means the Witnesses are out today. I'll be sure not to open my door. Crazy bastards.
This new taiko game is great. There's a game section where you have to play against these characters and beat levels and stuff. The end is really hard! You have to beat this weird god creature, and he blocks the screen, so you can't see what you're supposed to hit! But I beat it on the easy course, and now I'm playing through again on the hard course.
My eyes have been really itchy lately. I guess I need to find my Claritin. Argh.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
frustration
I read the new Naruto chapter today, and it has left me concerned/angry, even though I kind of predicted that the current events would happen. Fucking Sasuke. Why are you trying to destroy what your brother gave his life to protect? This turn of events will only lead to another fight with Naruto, except this time, somebody will probably die. And I hope it's you, Sasuke. Fuck you.
Yeah, that's right. Cry about it, loser.
Yeah, that's right. Cry about it, loser.Thursday, May 29, 2008
nan
Oh, man, do I love curry. Curry curry curry. And nan. Curry with nan is the best. Especially the sag cheese curry with nan. It's perfect. Heaven in my mouth. So good.
Catherine and I went to curry after work. When I saw her spinach soup she brought for lunch, it made me think of the spinach curry, and it didn't take much convincing to get her to go with me. We left right after work (technically, we left at 4:26, 4 minutes before work officially ended, but whatevs), and we got down to Shingu at 5:00! Amazing!
While we were there, I bought a little Rirakkuma for my baby cousin. It's tiny, and appropriate for a 6-month old, I think.
Today was kind of a surprise school day, since I didn't know I'd be going to school until late yesterday afternoon. I went to Atashika with Catherine, and since she'd already planned out the 2 lessons we had, I didn't have to do anything. Perfect!
At the junior high, we only had class with the 1st years, since the other kids are on their school trip to Tokyo this week. There are all of 3 students in that class. It worked out pretty well. After lunch, we played table tennis with them (I beat Catherine, hahahaha), and then we made stuff out of bamboo shoots. We kind of whittled these shoots with rusty knives and the kids were wielding these saws without any kind of protection. Not the safest environment. I think an American shop teacher would have a heart attack at the sight. But it was still super fun. All of my bamboo products are in my freezer, since they are "alive" and will "go bad". Hooray.
After the bamboo whittling, we went over to the elementary school for class with the 5th and 6th graders. We did some body parts activities, most of which were pretty fun. Then we chilled until the train, and upon reaching Kumano, we high-tailed it to Shingu for delicious curry.
I think this tale has gone full circle, so I will leave it at that.
Catherine and I went to curry after work. When I saw her spinach soup she brought for lunch, it made me think of the spinach curry, and it didn't take much convincing to get her to go with me. We left right after work (technically, we left at 4:26, 4 minutes before work officially ended, but whatevs), and we got down to Shingu at 5:00! Amazing!
While we were there, I bought a little Rirakkuma for my baby cousin. It's tiny, and appropriate for a 6-month old, I think.
Today was kind of a surprise school day, since I didn't know I'd be going to school until late yesterday afternoon. I went to Atashika with Catherine, and since she'd already planned out the 2 lessons we had, I didn't have to do anything. Perfect!
At the junior high, we only had class with the 1st years, since the other kids are on their school trip to Tokyo this week. There are all of 3 students in that class. It worked out pretty well. After lunch, we played table tennis with them (I beat Catherine, hahahaha), and then we made stuff out of bamboo shoots. We kind of whittled these shoots with rusty knives and the kids were wielding these saws without any kind of protection. Not the safest environment. I think an American shop teacher would have a heart attack at the sight. But it was still super fun. All of my bamboo products are in my freezer, since they are "alive" and will "go bad". Hooray.
After the bamboo whittling, we went over to the elementary school for class with the 5th and 6th graders. We did some body parts activities, most of which were pretty fun. Then we chilled until the train, and upon reaching Kumano, we high-tailed it to Shingu for delicious curry.
I think this tale has gone full circle, so I will leave it at that.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
springy
I just cleaned everything off my floor in my bedroom. Yay! I even vacuumed. I should probably go to the post office tomorrow and try to mail some stuff and also buy a lot more boxes. I have at least two more boxes worth of sweaters and other colder-weather stuff. This shipping stuff home business is going to cost a lot of money, alas.
Mom went to Linens-N-Things this weekend and bought my dishes! I'm very excited. I have the poppy and the white, how festive!
Haha, I have finally added pictures! Surprise! Maybe I'll add more in the future.
Mom went to Linens-N-Things this weekend and bought my dishes! I'm very excited. I have the poppy and the white, how festive!
Haha, I have finally added pictures! Surprise! Maybe I'll add more in the future.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
successor
Today I found out who my successor will be, or at least who one of the two new people is. She posted on the Mie forum and ta-da! I'm not technically supposed to find out until tomorrow, but oh well. The internet ruins everything. Now I have this 15+ page thing to fill out about Kumano and being an ALT and blah blah blah. I've done most of it already, and it will give me something to do tomorrow. Good times.
We haven't yet heard about the other new person. I hope it's a hot guy for Catherine's sake. We were pulling for a hot guy and a lesbian, but I don't think the new girl swings that way.
One more day until my lady troubles are over! Yay!
I've been so bored lately. Maybe this is a sign that I should clean my apartment. I could be wrong. My boredom has also resulted in my blogs being boring. Apologies all around.
I'm trying to decide if I should get on the UVa Law forum. Part of me wants to, so that I can at least internet know people before I go. I will look into this more tomorrow at work, since I will be there all day, and that welcome letter stuff won't take all day.
We haven't yet heard about the other new person. I hope it's a hot guy for Catherine's sake. We were pulling for a hot guy and a lesbian, but I don't think the new girl swings that way.
One more day until my lady troubles are over! Yay!
I've been so bored lately. Maybe this is a sign that I should clean my apartment. I could be wrong. My boredom has also resulted in my blogs being boring. Apologies all around.
I'm trying to decide if I should get on the UVa Law forum. Part of me wants to, so that I can at least internet know people before I go. I will look into this more tomorrow at work, since I will be there all day, and that welcome letter stuff won't take all day.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
say aha
Today has been a day spent vegging on the couch. I had intended on doing some serious cleaning, but cramps nixed that idea. I did get up long enough to sort some of my clothes into "trash" and "Goodwill" piles, but that's about it. Alas.
I've been playing the new taiko game, and it's super cute. I love dressing up the little drum. I think my favorite outfit is the ebi-fry. He has a fried shrimp suit with a little fried shrimp hat! It's adorable.
I downloaded this album Santogold from the artist of the same name, and it's pretty interesting. She reminds me of Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., Gwen Stefani, Le Tigre, and Nelly Furtado, which is an odd assortment, I know. It's hard to describe, but I like it. I also really like the new Ashlee Simpson album. Fuck the haters.
I made a new Gmail for myself, mainly for online shopping purposes. I know that Gmail has like 6GB of storage now, but my main account was feeling a little cluttered, so I made another and moved lots of stuff into that one. It made me feel productive.
Ugh, I don't feel like going to work tomorrow. Why can't it be Memorial Day here, too? But I think I only have 17-ish more days of school left. I still have more work days, but a lot of that will be at the office, which will thankfully be air-conditioned after June 1, so I won't mind so much.
I am so ready to go home.
I've been playing the new taiko game, and it's super cute. I love dressing up the little drum. I think my favorite outfit is the ebi-fry. He has a fried shrimp suit with a little fried shrimp hat! It's adorable.
I downloaded this album Santogold from the artist of the same name, and it's pretty interesting. She reminds me of Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., Gwen Stefani, Le Tigre, and Nelly Furtado, which is an odd assortment, I know. It's hard to describe, but I like it. I also really like the new Ashlee Simpson album. Fuck the haters.
I made a new Gmail for myself, mainly for online shopping purposes. I know that Gmail has like 6GB of storage now, but my main account was feeling a little cluttered, so I made another and moved lots of stuff into that one. It made me feel productive.
Ugh, I don't feel like going to work tomorrow. Why can't it be Memorial Day here, too? But I think I only have 17-ish more days of school left. I still have more work days, but a lot of that will be at the office, which will thankfully be air-conditioned after June 1, so I won't mind so much.
I am so ready to go home.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
sexy dream, aborted
Let me tell you about my sexy dream I had last night. Well, almost had. *sigh*
It was like I was watching this action/spy movie, but also kind of in it. I was in this big room with a bunch of people, like a church social hall or something. And there was this priest there. A hot priest. He looked like a taller, less bulky Daniel Craig. YES. And he had tattoos, which normally isn't my thing, but it was super hot. And I kind of think that maybe he wasn't a real priest, just like a spy pretending to be one, but whatever. He was still wearing the outfit, which is all that matters.
Anyway, everybody got up to leave, but I kind of stuck around, because The Bourne Ultimatum was coming on, and I wanted to see it, because it's a great movie. But hot priest dude sees me still in there and gets a sexy look on his face. !!! The game is afoot! But I'm trying to play coy, and I don't want people to notice that me and the hot priest are missing, so I run into the bathroom to sort myself out. While in there, I think, "I kind of have to pee", but then I fucking woke up, because I really did have to pee! DAMN IT. Me and that hot priest were totally going to have sexy times, but my stupid bladder ruined it, like it does EVERY TIME.
I had another dream when I went back to sleep, but it wasn't a continuation, so it was useless.
FOILED AGAIN.
In other news, I went to Shingu with Cat today for a delicious curry lunch. It was so good. I love that place.
I also bought the new taiko game for DS. I was so excited to get home and play it. I am so pleased with my DS purchase. It was a worthy investment. Now I just have to get that little card that lets me download all those games for free. Hehe.
It was like I was watching this action/spy movie, but also kind of in it. I was in this big room with a bunch of people, like a church social hall or something. And there was this priest there. A hot priest. He looked like a taller, less bulky Daniel Craig. YES. And he had tattoos, which normally isn't my thing, but it was super hot. And I kind of think that maybe he wasn't a real priest, just like a spy pretending to be one, but whatever. He was still wearing the outfit, which is all that matters.
Anyway, everybody got up to leave, but I kind of stuck around, because The Bourne Ultimatum was coming on, and I wanted to see it, because it's a great movie. But hot priest dude sees me still in there and gets a sexy look on his face. !!! The game is afoot! But I'm trying to play coy, and I don't want people to notice that me and the hot priest are missing, so I run into the bathroom to sort myself out. While in there, I think, "I kind of have to pee", but then I fucking woke up, because I really did have to pee! DAMN IT. Me and that hot priest were totally going to have sexy times, but my stupid bladder ruined it, like it does EVERY TIME.
I had another dream when I went back to sleep, but it wasn't a continuation, so it was useless.
FOILED AGAIN.
In other news, I went to Shingu with Cat today for a delicious curry lunch. It was so good. I love that place.
I also bought the new taiko game for DS. I was so excited to get home and play it. I am so pleased with my DS purchase. It was a worthy investment. Now I just have to get that little card that lets me download all those games for free. Hehe.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
kakigoooooooori
There are some days when I really like my students. Today, fortunately, was one of those days. I went to Kinomoto JH and FINALLY had classes with the 3rd years, who are probably my favorite kids in all of Kumano. They're good in class, and the girls all talk to me outside of class and whenever I see them in town. I love them. And I wore my silver shoes today, so they were all "KAWAIIIIIIII". Nice.
Another awesome happening at Kinomoto: I was talking to the nurse about the office, and she and one of my JTEs were saying out the "atmosphere is bad" there, and then basically blamed it all on that crazy bitch Miyahara. A-FUCKING-MEN. She was like, "Miyahara is what foreigners imagine all Japanese to be", and by this she means humorless drones. Which Miyahara totally is. YES.
I went back to the office after lunch and paid my rent. Fun. Then I finally asked my supervisor about leaving early, and he was totally cool with it! HOORAY! I told him either July 22 or 23 are fine with me. So now, I only have 2 months until I am out of Japan! I am so happy. I mean, I'll miss Japan, but I'm so ready to be home. But after hearing how Michelle is being routed through fucking Toronto, maybe I should specify that I would prefer my transfers occur in the US.
After work, the Kumano girls went out for the first kakigori of the season. For those without mad Nihongo skillz, kakigori is flavored shaved ice, AKA the best part about hot weather. There's a little stand on shopping street that makes the best kakigori in town (sorry, Rozen), and they have great flavors and the lady always puts tons of syrup on. Today, I had hibiscus, and I don't really know what that's supposed to taste like, but the product was delicious. I can't wait to have more.
Tomorrow, we are going on a little field trip with Kinomoto KG. I hope they are on their best behavior, because we'll be with them for about 4 hours. We're walking to Hana no Iwaya, this shrine by the beach, which will take about 30 minutes. And then we'll see that and then have lunch and play on the beach for a while. Sounds like it could be pretty fun. Too bad it will probably be hot as balls again. I will load up on the sunscreen. Perhaps I will wear a hat. My Jesus hat would work nicely.
Another awesome happening at Kinomoto: I was talking to the nurse about the office, and she and one of my JTEs were saying out the "atmosphere is bad" there, and then basically blamed it all on that crazy bitch Miyahara. A-FUCKING-MEN. She was like, "Miyahara is what foreigners imagine all Japanese to be", and by this she means humorless drones. Which Miyahara totally is. YES.
I went back to the office after lunch and paid my rent. Fun. Then I finally asked my supervisor about leaving early, and he was totally cool with it! HOORAY! I told him either July 22 or 23 are fine with me. So now, I only have 2 months until I am out of Japan! I am so happy. I mean, I'll miss Japan, but I'm so ready to be home. But after hearing how Michelle is being routed through fucking Toronto, maybe I should specify that I would prefer my transfers occur in the US.
After work, the Kumano girls went out for the first kakigori of the season. For those without mad Nihongo skillz, kakigori is flavored shaved ice, AKA the best part about hot weather. There's a little stand on shopping street that makes the best kakigori in town (sorry, Rozen), and they have great flavors and the lady always puts tons of syrup on. Today, I had hibiscus, and I don't really know what that's supposed to taste like, but the product was delicious. I can't wait to have more.
Tomorrow, we are going on a little field trip with Kinomoto KG. I hope they are on their best behavior, because we'll be with them for about 4 hours. We're walking to Hana no Iwaya, this shrine by the beach, which will take about 30 minutes. And then we'll see that and then have lunch and play on the beach for a while. Sounds like it could be pretty fun. Too bad it will probably be hot as balls again. I will load up on the sunscreen. Perhaps I will wear a hat. My Jesus hat would work nicely.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
atashika
Today was nice. Productive in that I got out of the house, but the only cleaning that got done was a load of laundry. Oh well.
Lauren called me when I was still in bed, wanting to know if I wanted to come over for pancakes. I grumbled a "no" and went back to sleep for a while. I eventually got up, showered, and chilled for a while, and then she texted me about going to the beach. Not for swimming, just for hanging out. So we did.
It had been nice and sunny up until that point, but as soon as we left to go to Atashika, it started clouding up. But we still went and sat on the beach and watched the waves for a while. We left after it got too chilly to stay.
We got back into town and tried to go to a yakiniku restaurant, but it wasn't open yet, so we went to Tsutaya. While we were there, this guy from Lauren's church came over and was talking to us, but he was practically whispering, so that was difficult. Plus, he was talking about being a Christian, a topic I couldn't give two shits about. Ugh. That unfortunate conversation lasted way too long.
After that adventure, we went across the street to Jusco and got ice cream and sat around waiting for a yakiniku place to open up. One finally did (yes, we were waiting on multiple yakiniku restaurants), and we had our delicious meat dinner. So good.
To close out the evening, we went back to Lauren's and watched The Usual Suspects, which she had rented from iTunes, since it was the 99cent movie this week. I'd never seen it before. It was pretty good. I do love Gabriel Byrne.
Now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what my teacher wants me to do for tomorrow's lesson. The 1nens are doing "What's this?" and she said something about me bringing something to share with the class? I don't know. I don't really have anything that I want to take to school and show those kids. Maybe I'll take my DS. Or my camera. Or my iPod. There's an idea.
Lauren called me when I was still in bed, wanting to know if I wanted to come over for pancakes. I grumbled a "no" and went back to sleep for a while. I eventually got up, showered, and chilled for a while, and then she texted me about going to the beach. Not for swimming, just for hanging out. So we did.
It had been nice and sunny up until that point, but as soon as we left to go to Atashika, it started clouding up. But we still went and sat on the beach and watched the waves for a while. We left after it got too chilly to stay.
We got back into town and tried to go to a yakiniku restaurant, but it wasn't open yet, so we went to Tsutaya. While we were there, this guy from Lauren's church came over and was talking to us, but he was practically whispering, so that was difficult. Plus, he was talking about being a Christian, a topic I couldn't give two shits about. Ugh. That unfortunate conversation lasted way too long.
After that adventure, we went across the street to Jusco and got ice cream and sat around waiting for a yakiniku place to open up. One finally did (yes, we were waiting on multiple yakiniku restaurants), and we had our delicious meat dinner. So good.
To close out the evening, we went back to Lauren's and watched The Usual Suspects, which she had rented from iTunes, since it was the 99cent movie this week. I'd never seen it before. It was pretty good. I do love Gabriel Byrne.
Now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what my teacher wants me to do for tomorrow's lesson. The 1nens are doing "What's this?" and she said something about me bringing something to share with the class? I don't know. I don't really have anything that I want to take to school and show those kids. Maybe I'll take my DS. Or my camera. Or my iPod. There's an idea.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
swing city
I was mildly productive today. I did two loads of laundry and packed up two more boxes of cold-weather clothes to send home. I've also gotten quite a lot accomplished in my little city in Sim City, so that's good too.
My future landlord emailed me the lease agreement for my new apartment. It seems fairly straightforward and reasonable. I read through it today, but I'm going to read through it again tomorrow before I sign it and send it back to her.
I think there are some angry cats in the neighborhood, because I heard the most awful sound a few hours ago, and it could only be some kind of angry animal. I assume cats, but I guess it could be tanukis. Or monkeys. I hope not monkeys.
I finished watching season two of Bones, so now I have to watch the third season and I'll be all caught up. Yay! Man, do I love David Boreanaz. Damn.
Last night, the Kumano girls went out to Shingu for curry and some light shopping. I finally had their sag cheese, and it was so good. I think it's my favorite. It looked different from the sag panir I've had before, but it tasted great, so I don't care. I will miss that place so much, but I did some research, and there are a few Indian places in Charlottesville. As long as they have nan (and allow for my low spicy tolerance), then I'm cool.
We also went to Uniqlo, and I didn't mean to buy anything, but I did. I got two pretty awesome t-shirts. One has this weird picture that kind of freaks me out, but I like it. Maybe I'll take a picture of it later and post it. The other is from some Rumiko Takahashi manga, which itself isn't that awesome, but the picture is of a tiger wearing a cape and wrestling shorts fighting a girl, featuring the caption "Tiger Fight". It was too much for me to resist.
I don't know what tomorrow has in store. I don't see myself getting up in time to go to the post office and send my boxes off. Maybe I'll clean. My apartment could certainly use it.
My future landlord emailed me the lease agreement for my new apartment. It seems fairly straightforward and reasonable. I read through it today, but I'm going to read through it again tomorrow before I sign it and send it back to her.
I think there are some angry cats in the neighborhood, because I heard the most awful sound a few hours ago, and it could only be some kind of angry animal. I assume cats, but I guess it could be tanukis. Or monkeys. I hope not monkeys.
I finished watching season two of Bones, so now I have to watch the third season and I'll be all caught up. Yay! Man, do I love David Boreanaz. Damn.
Last night, the Kumano girls went out to Shingu for curry and some light shopping. I finally had their sag cheese, and it was so good. I think it's my favorite. It looked different from the sag panir I've had before, but it tasted great, so I don't care. I will miss that place so much, but I did some research, and there are a few Indian places in Charlottesville. As long as they have nan (and allow for my low spicy tolerance), then I'm cool.
We also went to Uniqlo, and I didn't mean to buy anything, but I did. I got two pretty awesome t-shirts. One has this weird picture that kind of freaks me out, but I like it. Maybe I'll take a picture of it later and post it. The other is from some Rumiko Takahashi manga, which itself isn't that awesome, but the picture is of a tiger wearing a cape and wrestling shorts fighting a girl, featuring the caption "Tiger Fight". It was too much for me to resist.
I don't know what tomorrow has in store. I don't see myself getting up in time to go to the post office and send my boxes off. Maybe I'll clean. My apartment could certainly use it.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
show me the way to go home
Oh man, I'm sleepy. So sleepy. And I really tried to go to bed early. I did. And I let myself sleep in a little bit, all to no avail. Maybe if the stupid rain hadn't woken me up several times last night, I wouldn't be so tired. Stupid rain. Stupid off-shore typhoons.
I haven't posted in a while, clearly. Apologies all around. Here's a brief-ish description of my time away.
April 26-29
I decided to take an extended Golden Week trip, since the real GW sucked this year (the holidays didn't align properly, alas). Michelle and I spent the first days of our trip in Fukuoka, as we usually do. It was super fun, possibly more fun than other times. We sold some of our manga and I got three pairs of new glasses at Zoff, including the sunglasses that I've been wanting for almost a year. They are badass. We also finally ate at the Indian restaurant next to Ichiran, and it was delicious. Sag panir with cheese nan is the way to go, most def.
April 30-May5
Our trip took a turn for the worse when we went to Korea. Maybe it was because we'd had so much fun in Fukuoka in the days before, maybe it was because we stayed in Seoul instead of going to other cities, I don't know. But the general consensus was that Korea sucks ass.
The countryside is less-than-impressive, for one thing. Here, I'm surrounded by beautiful, lush green mountains, but there, the mountains and everything else just looked gray. Bleak. Not a great first impression. This is probably the result of pollution, a lot of which I'm sure comes from China, but whatever.
Seoul was also dirty and grimy. Not how I like my cities, or at least the shopping areas, to look.
The food looked gross. There, I said it. We looked at it, and it looked nasty, so we didn't eat it. And I don't even feel bad about it.
Lastly, the residents of Seoul were some of the most infuriating people I've ever had the displeasure of coming into contact with.
My biggest complaint is that they are line-cutters, which might not sound like a big deal, but it's one of my pet peeves, and fucking everybody was doing it, which to me indicates a system-wide lack of respect for others. Needless to say, lots of elbows were thrown on this trip.
Aside from the gratuitous line-cutting, I found them rude and pushy and they somehow managed to disrupt our paths everywhere we went.
Also, lots of public transport smelled like salami, which I fear has forever ruined that deli meat for Michelle.
Oh the plus side, we did get to see Ironman (twice!), which I don't think has been released in Japan yet. And the tickets were only 8000 won (about $8 US), whereas they are usually 1800 yen here ($18 US). And the people laughed at appropriate times during the movie, which Japanese people never do, because they are either humorless or retarded.
In general, people were normal-sized, which was refreshing, and they didn't walk around like the living dead, as the J-folks are also prone to doing.
And they had Krispy Kreme!!
I'm sure there are other good things about the country, but honestly, we didn't really see it. And I'm never going back, so oh well.
May 5-6
We went back to Fukuoka for a day and a half after getting back from Korea, and thank god we did. We definitely needed that time to "fix" our trip. I have never been so glad to get back to Japan.
Unfortunately, this was the last trip I'll be taking anywhere and the last time I'll see Michelle for a while. But I have to save money for shipping stuff home and for future expenses. Argh.
One of those expenses is my new apartment. My parents are going to pay my rent, which came as a big surprise to me, but I want to help if I can. Mom and Dad went to Charlottesville while we were in Korea and found an apartment for me. It just happens to be in my favorite building. Yay! More about that later.
So that explains a lot of the time. After getting back to Japan, I went back to work, and that's what I've been doing for the last week. Super fun, I know. I'm trying to keep my head in the game, as it were, for the next few months, but it's hard. Now that I have something else lined up, I'm ready to go home and do that. But not yet. Alas.
I haven't posted in a while, clearly. Apologies all around. Here's a brief-ish description of my time away.
April 26-29
I decided to take an extended Golden Week trip, since the real GW sucked this year (the holidays didn't align properly, alas). Michelle and I spent the first days of our trip in Fukuoka, as we usually do. It was super fun, possibly more fun than other times. We sold some of our manga and I got three pairs of new glasses at Zoff, including the sunglasses that I've been wanting for almost a year. They are badass. We also finally ate at the Indian restaurant next to Ichiran, and it was delicious. Sag panir with cheese nan is the way to go, most def.
April 30-May5
Our trip took a turn for the worse when we went to Korea. Maybe it was because we'd had so much fun in Fukuoka in the days before, maybe it was because we stayed in Seoul instead of going to other cities, I don't know. But the general consensus was that Korea sucks ass.
The countryside is less-than-impressive, for one thing. Here, I'm surrounded by beautiful, lush green mountains, but there, the mountains and everything else just looked gray. Bleak. Not a great first impression. This is probably the result of pollution, a lot of which I'm sure comes from China, but whatever.
Seoul was also dirty and grimy. Not how I like my cities, or at least the shopping areas, to look.
The food looked gross. There, I said it. We looked at it, and it looked nasty, so we didn't eat it. And I don't even feel bad about it.
Lastly, the residents of Seoul were some of the most infuriating people I've ever had the displeasure of coming into contact with.
My biggest complaint is that they are line-cutters, which might not sound like a big deal, but it's one of my pet peeves, and fucking everybody was doing it, which to me indicates a system-wide lack of respect for others. Needless to say, lots of elbows were thrown on this trip.
Aside from the gratuitous line-cutting, I found them rude and pushy and they somehow managed to disrupt our paths everywhere we went.
Also, lots of public transport smelled like salami, which I fear has forever ruined that deli meat for Michelle.
Oh the plus side, we did get to see Ironman (twice!), which I don't think has been released in Japan yet. And the tickets were only 8000 won (about $8 US), whereas they are usually 1800 yen here ($18 US). And the people laughed at appropriate times during the movie, which Japanese people never do, because they are either humorless or retarded.
In general, people were normal-sized, which was refreshing, and they didn't walk around like the living dead, as the J-folks are also prone to doing.
And they had Krispy Kreme!!
I'm sure there are other good things about the country, but honestly, we didn't really see it. And I'm never going back, so oh well.
May 5-6
We went back to Fukuoka for a day and a half after getting back from Korea, and thank god we did. We definitely needed that time to "fix" our trip. I have never been so glad to get back to Japan.
Unfortunately, this was the last trip I'll be taking anywhere and the last time I'll see Michelle for a while. But I have to save money for shipping stuff home and for future expenses. Argh.
One of those expenses is my new apartment. My parents are going to pay my rent, which came as a big surprise to me, but I want to help if I can. Mom and Dad went to Charlottesville while we were in Korea and found an apartment for me. It just happens to be in my favorite building. Yay! More about that later.
So that explains a lot of the time. After getting back to Japan, I went back to work, and that's what I've been doing for the last week. Super fun, I know. I'm trying to keep my head in the game, as it were, for the next few months, but it's hard. Now that I have something else lined up, I'm ready to go home and do that. But not yet. Alas.
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